Boulder Cty Lifestyle Article
Thanks to Boulder County Lifestyle Magazine for the great article. View it here:
http://issuu.com/lifestylepubs/docs/bcljune2014finallr/24?e=10131829%2F8025844
Big Brew Day!
Ok, we had such a blast on Big Brew Day! Takeaways:
1. Home brewers are some of the nicest people around. I’m not just saying that because one of them is my brother. The home brewers in BRUDE home brew group are typical of what we find of homebrewers everywhere. Nice, funny, fun and really enjoy a cold brew.
Me (Jean), and my favorite brewer, my brother, on Big Brew Day.
Happy Hour, Ladies Night and IPAs
Our “Your Two Cents” Jar is hard at work! We read everyone’s suggestions and implement what we think will bring a better experience to our customers. Two of the things that have come out of that so far are the request for a happy hour and more hoppy beers for Hop Heads.
So, we have added a happy hour which means $1 off pints for you, Monday – Wednesday 2-6pm. And because – well we don’t really know why – but being a woman myself, I’m not going to question the rationale of LADIES NIGHT! I mean, $1 off pints for women all day Wednesday…really? Who cares why, we’re doin it.
Mark has started what he is calling “Shades of IPA” which will be an experimental series of hoppy beers in various styles. The first of the series is out: Sunglasses at Night American Dark Ale. At 86 IBUs this Ale is black as night with roasted flavors on the front end followed by a strong hoppy finish.
Final thoughts before we open
We’ve been asked lately why we decided to open a brewery and what it’s been like to go through this process. And because we are in the process of starting a brewery, our brows wrinkle and our eyes gloss over (We could all use a little sleep!). Well, here’s a little about it.
Why start a brewery?
Opening Date
Here we go people! We have set the tentative opening date for February 22. If all goes as planned (of course, when has any of it gone as planned?!?!?!) then we should be able to serve up our first beers that day. It’s been a hard, exciting journey and many things haven’t gone as planned, but many things have fallen into place thanks to great support from family and friends both old and new!
We look forward to the many trials and tribulations, as well as good times to continue as we strive to bring good beer and a community gathering place to Longmont, Colorado!
Penny bartop – it took DAYS to lay down all these pennies. There are some foreign ones courtesy of Chamberlain Coins (Thanks Mark!) and of our brewer Mark Lusher (Thanks other Mark!).
Julie Clement did this beautiful piece of art just for us in her signature style. Check out her other work at http://www.clementinedotart.com/
We were fortunate to have Ted Wilson Structural Arts, sharing our building. He and his team created our railing for the deck. Now all we need is sunlight, warmth…and maybe a place to sit.
Hops!
Dan moving the kegs.
Construction
A month from demolition and construction is well underway. Framing is up, electrical mechanical and plumbing rough are done and drywall is going in as I type this.
It’s very exciting to see everything taking shape:
December 5, rest of framing started, sprinkler system in
December 18, ductwork in, bar framed out
Upcycling
We were fortunate to land some great tables and chairs at an auction and we are refinishing them (all 34 chairs and 5 tables) for the tasting room. It has been a laborious process and isn’t done yet, but we hope the results will be worth it. At the very least, a lot of hard work and love has gone into them…
Jean staining (hey, why am I next to the trash cans?)
More fun with power tools – Mark makes the tables look pretty
Sanding…and sanding and more sanding to beat the clock before the weather turns cold.
Building has begun
Well, it started with needing to demolish a room before the construction could begin…
Teamwork – taking down walls
New Brew Dog, Mavrik
Candace and power tools!
We aren’t above using child labor
Taaaa daaaa!
The way is cleared for construction to begin!
Thank you to The Augusta Group and our Architect, Rick Morton for agreeing to take on this project. We can’t wait to see the results of our collaboration!
Construction gets started with cutting the concrete for plumbing
Moving right along
The good news
First, we narrowly escaped the great flood of 2013 which sadly put thousands of people from their homes and caused damages to many businesses in Longmont and across Colorado. Because we didn’t have anything in the space yet, it was less stressful than it could have been. It was bad news for many in the Longmont community but so amazing to see everyone pulling together to support one another in rebuilding!
Flood waters at our location did not make it into the building.
The better news
We had the amazing opportunity to participate in Left Hand Brewery’s Oktoberfest this year. (Thank you Left Hand!) We thought we would just be able to tell everyone about our new location, hand out some stickers, sell a few t-shirts, give away a year of beer, etc. However, just in time, our federal (TTB) licensing and state licensing went through (in less than 30 days, to our surprise) and we were able to serve samples of our beer for a $1 donations.
Our new tent was ready for action.
Dan, Mark, Candace and Director of Kids Activities.
Jean in dirndl
Thanks to everyone who tried our beer!
Candace bringing us some refreshments. We all agreed that we can’t wait to serve our beer to the friendly, enthusiastic, and cool future patrons who visited that day.
The best news
Though we knew we would love serving our beer to the public, I don’t think any of us realized how MUCH we truly would enjoy it. Oktoberfest was an energizing event for 300 Suns Brewing and we are more excited than ever to be opening our brewery in this outstanding city.
Did you think that was the “best news”? It’s pretty good, but the best news is, we got to hand over $1129.39 to flood relief efforts, and all because of the generosity of Longmont and surrounding area’s craft loving community. How (I’ve run out of words for awesome) is that?
